6.3.11

Quite possibly. I mean, I'm regularly reviewing episodes of Criminal Minds that involve gouged-out eyes and beheadings, Family Guy can't go a week without joking about paedophilia or incestuous rape - now that Saturday Night Live has largely dropped the rape and murder-themed humour, it's back down to a level appropriate for the 11-year-olds-up-past-their-bedtime that make up its core audience demographic.

And I say good for it - because if there's one thing Bill Cosby has proved over the years, it's that you don't have to be dirty to be funny. Not that SNL is Cosby-level funny. Not even the same league, but it's nice to see them try.

So anyhow, on to Miley Cyrus' episode!

Only a few recurring characters this week (none of them Wiig's!), so that was nice - Miley's monologue was a sarcastic apology for all of her public misdeeds that came across as far more bitter than it should have. Add that to her sullen, begrudging appearance as Justin Bieber on 'The Miley Cyrus Show' and her weirdly snippy closing Thank Yous, and she may well go down as the most reluctant host in recent SNL history. Who knows if it was personal stuff or a genuine distaste for the program, but Miley really seemed like she didn't want to be there. And you know what? More power to her. At least it shook things up a little!

Also, sullen disengagement is key to a decent Bieber impression.

Otherwise the show was a Sheentensive as one would expect it to be, with Hader premiering a serviceable impression of the man, and Smuggy letting a segment on him dominate the news. The modern world is hard on SNL, what with every other nightly comedy show getting to every conceivable joke before they do - but their jokes largely scored, and all in all it was a fair night of Sheen-mocking.

So now, the numbers!

Rape: 0! (Congrats again, SNL!)

Homophobia: 1 (the 'French Kids Dance' sketch involved a man feeling up another man, which was included only to make the audience laugh uncomfortably... which they did!)

A low score again, proving, possibly, that unlike Michael Haneke, head writer SmuggySmuggerson is mellowing out in his advancing years.